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Oct 10, 2010

Dead Space Thoughts

I am gonna go with thoughts on a certain video game instead of reviews from now on. I think reviews are redundant, because with the way games are covered these days, there are rarely surprise purchases. You typically know what you are going to buy before you do, which is sad enough as it is. So I decided to start working through my backlog of games that I have played but never finished. First up on that list? Dead Space.

Dead Space came out in 2008 right before Resident Evil 5. Billed as Resident Evil 4 in Space, that is pretty much what the game is. Corpses that jump up at you? Check. Crap your pants scary? Check. Creepy environment that I wouldn't be caught dead on? Check. Sprinkle in a hint of BioShock from not just audio diary's but also data entry's and video logs and you have a classic horror game in the making.

Sadly, the third and final act of the game is where the game falls on it's face. A couple of story elements are introduced during the climax that feel very tacked on and irrelevant to the remainder of the story.

Gameplay is excellent though, so the shortcomings of the story can be neglected. Cutting off limbs is a fresh take to the shooter mentality of "Headshot n00b!1". The best feature though? The guidance system where you could push down the second analog stick to make your character face where he needs to go, drawing a blue line of light on the ground. The only problem I found with this mechanic was that it made the game feel too linear. I would have enjoyed it more if it ran off a resource system that was powered on how many enemies you have killed recently, that way it wouldn't ruin the pacing of the game while still helping those who have put the game down for a couple months.

All in all, Dead Space is solid entry for a new franchise into the Survival Horror genre, especially since Resident Evil seemed to leave that genre for more of an Action and Adventure feel.